HANOI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's national index of industrial production advanced 9.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, the country's General Statistics Office announced on Friday.
Main driver of the surge, the processing and manufacturing sector, went up 11.1 percent, contributing 8.5 percentage points to the overall growth.
Electricity production and distribution sector grew 9.4 percent, contributing 0.8 percentage points, and water supply and waste management grew 8.5 percent, contributing 0.2 percentage points.
Production of oil and petrol witnessed the largest output expansion year-on-year, at 73.2 percent, followed by raw steel and iron (up 64.8 percent), television set (up 49.3 percent), and liquefied petroleum gas (up 37.8 percent).
Meanwhile, outputs of phones'components went down 26 percent and crude oil down 10.3 percent.
Northern Thanh Hoa province posted the highest industrial production growth of 51.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, tailed by southern Tra Vinh province (40.4 percent) and central Ha Tinh province (33.8 percent).
